Ratings are based
on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

Johnny Blaze

Pidgeot – Great card. A lot of folks
underrate this because of it being a Stage 2. But with a Power
like Quick Search, with no drawbacks, and you get to search your
deck for any card that is just broken IMHO. 2 for 40 with its
Clutch attack is also very good. Especially against Colorless
Weak Pokemon like the ever popular Rayquaza. The Lightning
weakness is very bad as Lightning will make a huge comeback in
FR/LG.

Unlimited: 3/5 - Many viable search cards in this format and
this just adds to it. With low attack costs Pidgeot can be
powered up with 2 Recycles or just 1 DCE and start attacking.
With a Fighting resistance to the ever popular Rogue this just
adds to its playability.

Modified: 4/5 – Great card in this format. Like I said earlier
you can search your deck for any card with no drawbacks!! ‘Nuff
said. Again just watch out for Lightning with, Blastoise going
to rain down on the new format Lightning will make a huge
comeback.

Limited: 2/5 – Not that great here. Low chances of pulling all
the stages, but if you do and you can get it out Watch out.

Otaku

Name:
Pidgeot

Set:
EX: Fire Red and Leaf Green

Card#:
10/112

Type:
Colorless

Stage:
2 (Evolves from Pidgeotto)

HP:
100

Weakness:
Electric

Resistance:
Fighting

Retreat:
None

Poké-Power:
Quick Search

Once
during your turn (before your attack), you may choose
any 1 card from your deck and put it into your hand.
Shuffle your deck afterward. You can’t use more than 1
Quick Search Poké-Power each turn. This power can’t be used
if Pidgeot is affected by a Special Condition.

Attack:
(CC) Clutch [40]

The
Defending Pokémon can’t retreat until the end of your
opponent’s next turn.

Name:
Pidgeotto

Set:
EX: Fire Red and Leaf Green

Card#:
45/112

Type:
Colorless

Stage:
1 (Evolves from Pidgey)

HP:
70

Weakness:
Electric

Resistance:
Fighting

Retreat:
None

Attack#1:
(C) Clutch [10]

The
Defending Pokémon can’t retreat until the end of your
opponent’s next turn.

Attack#2:
(CC) Cutting Wind [30]

Name:
Pidgey

Set:
EX: Fire Red and Leaf Green

Card#:
73/112

Type:
Colorless

Stage:
Basic

HP:
50

Weakness:
Electric

Resistance:
Fighting

Retreat:
C

Attack#1:
(C) Corner

The
Defending Pokémon can’t retreat until the end of your
opponent’s next turn.

Attack#2:
(CC) Gust [20]

Attributes:
Pidgeot is a Stage 2 Colorless Pokémon. Being a Stage 2
means it can’t just be tossed into any deck, though with
some simple combos, it can be out and ready to go first
turn, but weaker than it would be going the slow and steady
route. All in all, being a Stage 2 is becoming less of a
disadvantage. Being Colorless is once again more a neutral
trait-it just seems to awkward to run a Sprout Tower or
Unown N in Unlimited, and in Modified, there’s nothing but
pros (there are Colorless Weak Pokémon, but not Colorless
Resistant). We have a nice 100 HP. Just about as low as
I’d want on a Stage 2. Anything less would require
significant compensation. Along the bottom, we see the
expected Electric Weakness. Not great, but at least that
type sees only limited play in Modified. We see a Fighting
Resistance. This is getting more useful in Modified, and is
wonderful for Unlimited-Neo Discovery Tyrogue is sort of the
universal opener/cleaner in that format. Let me add I am
thrilled to have a Resistance. Last bottom stat is a
perfect free retreat. It doesn’t get any better than
that-you can send this up whenever you need and not worry
about it getting stranded just because you can’t/don’t want
to discard energy… well, unless they play cards that add to
your retreat, of course.

Before
moving onto Abilities, let us touch upon what it can evolve
from in this set (I wish I had time to be as thorough as I
used to and basically cross review everything, but alas, I
can’t). The Fire Red/Leaf Green Pidgeotto is like a smaller
Pidgeot, which isn’t too bad. It has a much weaker Clutch,
and a straight damage attack, both of which are
under-priced. It also has a passable 70 HP for a Stage 1,
so it won’t cripple this line. The rest of its stats match
Pidgeot’s, which is pretty solid. The Pidgey is like a
smaller Pidgeotto (again, appropriate). It has a decent 50
HP, basically an even weaker version of the Clutch attack
(different name though), and a straight (CC) for 20 attack.
Other than a still manageable retreat of (C), it matches its
higher stages’ stats.

Abilities:
The Quick Turn Poké-Power is pretty amazing. Computer
Search was an incredible card in Unlimited, and was a
Trainer with the same “search your deck for any one card”
effect. The difference was that it required two cards be
discarded. This makes Pidgeot competitively priced, since
most decks there would run at least 3 Computer Searches.
That means that in total, at least nine cards would go to
this searching power. That’s enough to run a 4/3/2 line of
this. Doesn’t matter as much for Unlimited-most will stick
with the Trainer since they can usually spare the discard,
and want to be able to easily use it first turn and multiple
times in a single turn if they want. Still, it might be
worth considering since you get a Computer Search each
turn. The limit was a good idea-otherwise, even as a Stage
2, it would replace the Energy Draw version of Delcatty. As
is, it could be a rival-a single card, no strings attached,
and as stated, doesn’t need too many slots when you look at
the value of the effect. It also has decent attack to go
with this: Clutch. Getting 40 damage
from just (CC) is pretty good. Tack on the effect that your
opponent can’t retreat, and you have a real bargain.

Uses/Combinations:
As stated, this will rival and may replace Delcatty as the
top supporting Pokémon… at least it the set rotation occurs
and we lose Oracle, as expected. While technically less
beefy than Delcatty (a Stage 1), it also has a Resistance to
the up and coming Fighting decks. You might consider
combining it with Technical Machines (and maybe some of the
Pokémon that can abuse Technical Machines, since it could
search out the best one to use. Pokémon that can inflict
Special Conditions, especially from the Bench, might
consider it as well.

Ratings

Unlimited:
3/5-Who knows, with Trader and Rare Candy, maybe it could
replace Computer Search… but not likely. Still, there are
niche decks that probably could use getting a guaranteed
card each turn without needing a Trainer.

Modified:
4/5-This could be the thing to replace Delcatty.
Has some potential in its own deck.

Limited:
4/5-Good line, and search power is insane. It loses a full
point though-not for being hard to get but for a solid
amount of Electric (“splashable” and non-splashable) that
are in this set.

Summary

I think it
sets a fast, but not too fast, pace for Pokémon. Pokémon
lacks as broken of single cards as say, Yu-Gi-Oh, but I
still worry we may have opened Pandora’s
box here.

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